Long story short, I now live in Zurich, Switzerland and my nice violin sits at my parents' and I may bring it the next time I visit. However I am a bit afraid of damaging it or having it stolen. I want to get an inexpensive practice violin instead if I can. I am thinking of ordering something off of ebay unless if someone has a suggestion here. Thank you for your time. You may want to use it with a better bow, which for me has made a difference.
And of course, you should change the default Prelude strings, which are way too shrill for this violin. Steven J. After talking to my wife a little bit, we found this one: Stagg Violin in Lousanne A Stagg electric, which I am a fan of, and have tried before. Of course not the best quality but it'll be a good practice substitute.
I like the Yamaha ones, but never liked their quality vs price especially for electric violins. They are nice, but there are nicer ones for the same or less price. Also, over the years I realized that the setup is much more important than the violin itself. I had a great luthier in my previous town and she was always great at making my primary violin to sound its best, and I will look for similar services in Zurich, but it's quite a bit pricier. I think you're right thinking the setup is important.
I like my violin, and it has sentimental value for me, since it has been my only violin and it was given to me as a gift from a very close relative. That's why I'm slowly trying to set it up the best possible way. I want to keep it. I have never played an electric violin.
I love the violin vibrating on my chin, my neck, and my shoulder, which makes me play the violin, but as far as I am concerned about the electric violins. It's simply just the setup and how ergonomic it is. What I've been told from people who has played electric violins is that the bowing tends to be very different, and the intonation is slightly different, since they lack the overtones an acoustic violin produces. I imagine they're good for practising fingering, scales and exercises without bothering anyone.
